Illinois Cent. R. v. Stone

20 F. 468
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1884
StatusPublished

This text of 20 F. 468 (Illinois Cent. R. v. Stone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Cent. R. v. Stone, 20 F. 468 (uscirct 1884).

Opinion

Hill, I.

The questions now presented for decision arise upon com-plainani’s motion for a preliminary injunction to restrain the defendants, as railroad commissioners for the state of Mississippi, from in any wai interfering with the complainant or its agents in the man-agemen . and business of operating its railroad. The questions presented lave been most ably and exhaustively argued by the distinguished and learned counsel on both sides, and are questions of momen >ous importance to the people, and to the commercial interests of the c ountry at large, as well as to the complainant, and all whose interes! it represents. The facts set forth in the bill, not being con-trovertí d, for the purposes of the motion are to be taken to be true. These i acts, so far as they relate to the questions now to be decided, are, in substance, as follows:

“ The complainant corporation was created by an act of the legislature of the stale of Illinois, and is the owner of and operates the Illinois Central Kailron11, and its branches and connections, running north from the city of Cairo, i a the state of Illinois, and is the lessee of and operates the Chicago, St. .Lou s & New Orleans Railroad and its branches, extending south from Cairo t< i the city of Hew Orleans, in the state of Louisiana. The Chicago, St. Louis 13 Hew Orleans Railroad Company is a corporation created by the legislatures of the states of Louisana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky, as a contim ious line of railroad communication between the cities of Hew Orleans and Ci iro, and there to connect with the Illinois Central Railroad, and its branch is and connections, so as to afford a connected line of transportation for person i and commercial commodities from the city of Hew Orleans, and its commi rcial connections on the Mississippi river, Gulf of Mexico, and railway conn& tions, and all intermediate connections, by railroad or water, from Hew Orleai s to the terminus of the Illinois Central Railroad, its branches and con-nectio is, thus affording a great commercial highway from tlie gulf on’ the south so the lakes on the north.”

Th) bill further alleges that the purpose of those who built this exten five channel of commercial communication, and the United Statei, the states, the counties, and the people, who have contributed there to, and which they would not otherwise have done, was to establish i í highway for the transportation oí persons and articles of corn-mere a, for the benefit of themselves and all others who might desire to ai ail themselves of this means of rapid transit from one part of the 1 Inited States to another, and to other parts of the world, and over which hundreds of thousands of persons and many millions of prop erty are constantly being- transported, and have been for years past, without interruption from any state authority, until recently.

T le bill further slates that the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans EaiJ road Company became the owner by purchase, under the decrees of this court, of the Mississippi Central Railroad, and of the NewOr-leai s, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad, and all the property con-nec ed therewith owned by said railroad companies; tbe former ex-ten'ling from Canton, in the state of Mississippi, to Cairo, in the state of 1 ilinois, passing through the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, and [470]*470the latter from New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana, to Canton, in this state, both being interstate railroads; and by said purchase became vested with all the rights and privileges of the debtor corporations, the sales having been made to satisfy debts owing by said corporations respectively. That as a condition upon which the corporate powers were, by the legislature of the state of Mississippi, granted to the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans Eailroad Company, it was re-' quired of said corporation that it would pay to the state all the indebtedness due from said corporations whose property and rights had been so purchased, and for which said purchaser was not responsible, and which payment, to the amount of $158,978.82, has been made; that under the chartered rights so purchased, and the act of incorporation, it is expressly granted to said corporation the right and power to adapt, establish, and change at pleasure a tariff of charges; that the same right and power was granted to the debtor corporations which was so purchased by complainant’s lessor, together with the right and power to select all necessary officers, agents, and employes, and to control and manage and operate said railroad, and all the business and property connected therewith.

The bill further charges that the legislature of the state of Mississippi, on the eleventh day of March, 1884, passed an act, which has been approved by the governor of said state, entitled “An act to provide for the regulation of freight and passenger rates on railroads in this state, and to create a commission to supervise the same, and for other purposes;” that under the provision of this act the defendants have been appointed and commissioned as such commissioners, and have entered upon the discharge of their duties as such, and threaten to interfere with the rights of complainant, to which it has succeeded as such lessee, and which have been enjoyed and exercised by those whose rights complainant has purchased, for a quarter of a century, without just complaint, which interference, it is alleged, if permitted, will greatly injure and embarrass complainant in the management and control of said railroad, and the transportation of persons and freight over the same, in violation of the just rights and privileges so purchased and granted, and in violation of and in conflict with the constitution of the state of Mississippi and of the United States, and from doing which the bill prays the defendants may be restrained and enjoined by the decree of this court.

Whether the act of the legislature‘creating the commission, and giving it the powers and imposing the duties therein provided, is wise or unwise, on the one hand, or whether the acts of the complainant intended to be controlled by it are just grounds of complaint, on the other, are questions over which this court will not undertake to decide. The only question is, did the legislature have the power and authority, under the constitution of the state of Mississippi and the United States, to enact the law? Or; to state the question in other words, do any of the provisions of the act, and if so, which of them, [471]*471violate i r conflict with any of the provisions of both or either of these constiti tions ? If they do not, then the act must be maintained, and the con plainant, if suffering a wrong, must apply to the legislature for relit f; but if they do, then the act, so far as it does violate any of thesi constitutional rights, must be declared void, and treated as if the a st had never been passed.

It is a well-established and cardinal rule, as expressed by Chief Justice Mabsiiall in the case of Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch. 87,—

“Tha ; the question whether a law bo void for its repugnancy to the constitution s at all times a question of much delicacy, which ought seldom, if ever, t< be decided in the affirmative in doubtful casos. The court, whan impelled 1 y duty to render such a judgment, would be unworthy of his station could h ) be unmindful of the obligation which that station imposes. But it is not ( n slight implication and vague conjecture that the legislature is to be pronou iced to have transcended its powers, and its acts to bo considered as void.

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Bluebook (online)
20 F. 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-cent-r-v-stone-uscirct-1884.